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Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Fort Thomas City Council Notes (6-15-15)

Council met for the second time in June on Monday. Council meetings, are normally held on the first Monday of the month, but the amended budget for last year and the budget for 2015-2016 were presented to council two weeks ago after the finance committee approved those items.

A quick change to the minutes was added into the record by Councilman Adam Meier, who wanted to make sure that there was a record of his discussion that favored a revenue neutral to the proposed budget.

Both the amended budget from last year and the proposed budget passed unanimously.

Fire Report
Fire Chief Mark Bailey reported to council that Campbell County Detention Center inmates are almost complete painting the fire hydrants and are also pausing their flushing maintenance because the Water District is having electrical problems at their plant.

He also reported that the paperwork for the Rozzi's fireworks display for Fourth at the Fort is completed.

Chief Daly also highlighted Non-Traffic Charges and wanted to commend all three shifts on stepping up their patrols. He specifically mentioned combating the heroin problem had become a top priority, which was seen in securing 40 charges in May 2015 versus 11 charges in May of 2014.

Officer Nick Hoffman was recognized by the state for his seatbelt enforcement numbers. With 97 violations from June of last year until June 12, 2015. He will be recognized at the Griffin Gate Marriot in Lexington next month.

Lt. Jamey Gadzala secured a $2,000 mini grant for DUI enforcement for the department and said that the reason the department received the grant was due to the hard work of officers that participated in the seatbelt grant.

Finally Chief Daly detailed the partnership with Fort Thomas Independent Schools on emergency scenarios. Topics included protocol on what to do with an active shooting situation, shooter profiles, law enforcement response, responses of school personnel, lockdown-hide-evaluate, and counter tactics, which include going after the suspect with the mindset of taking them down.

City Administrators Report
City Administrator Don Martin reported that Duke was, as expected, the only utility company to bid
Duke only bid for gas/electric.

Martin also talked about a pier wall that will be installed on Covert Place pier wall. Bids due June 26.

He reported that there was a slide on Tower Hill Road near bottom of the road near, Route 8. Engineers are investigating methods for repair and to try to decipher what caused the slippage. “Pier walls are not cheap. Hopefully we can do something less than a pier wall,” said Martin.

Committee Reports

The Parks and Recreation Committee (Lisa Kelly - Chair, Jeff Bezold and Ken Bowman members) met prior to the council meeting to discuss a smoking ban within the park systems.

The recommendation the committee brought to council was to have no smoking within 25 feet of "kid zones" which would include playground equipment or play areas.

As opposed to instituting an ordinance for this, the committee is seeking voluntary compliance with the assistance of signs.

"If this approach doesn’t work, we can bring it back to city council for ordinance," said Martin. "We have high expectations this approach will work."

Council approved this measure 6-0.New Business
Two Alcoholic Beverage Licenses were read for the record: Midway Cafe and Christ Church. More on this from FTM later.

There was also discussion of the agreement with the union for General Services laborers. They had negotiations and the city agreed to their requests, which was a two-year deal. Some of which include:
- A 2% increase in base pay for fiscal year 15/16 and 16/17.
- A provision allowing employees who will work 12 straight hours to have the option to use vacation time during their next shift without giving 24 hours notice.
- Having vacation leave on their birthdays.
- Adding step-parents to bereavement leave.
- Amending the CDL to clarify suspension of licenses. If an employees has a CDL suspended for medical reasons, the employees would be given work that didn't require a CDL.

Council approved this measure 6-0.

Miscellaneous:
Jann Seidenfaden was reappointed as City Attorney unanimously.